For today’s Roll Call, we call out Atlanta’s favorite black hipster, Wil May, who’s been hibernating in L.A.
Who are you?
I am Wil May aka Bill Whitfield aka Lil WiWi fa sho. My mom calls me WILLIAM. I am WILLIAM E. MAY by birth. Regal, I know. And, in college [Emory University] they used to call me POSTMODERN. So I am POSTMODERN. I am an artist/music producer/the orchestrator of the MAKESHIFT movement.
Describe yourself in three words.
Uber, Astute, MAKESHIFT
Whom — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
As of now, Mr. Barack Obama. I wouldn’t want to just meet him. I wanna be homies with him.
Whom would you most like to slap in the face?
Billy O’Reilly (make sure you put Billy). He just says dumb, insensitive, incendiary shit to me.
What song do you wish you had written?
I can’t just say one song. Debussy’s “Clair De Lune,” Pink Floyd’s “Time,” OutKast’s “Elevators” and T.I.’s “What You Know.”
Lil Wayne or Little Richard?
Weezy F. Baby. Say what you will about Weezy but Lil Wayne’s work ethic is amazing. Peep the skit on his new mixtape Dedication 3 called “You Love Me You Hate Me.” He explains his work ethic in a hilarious way. Plus, Kanye, TIP, and Wayne are basically giving ppl evidence that the music industry still exists in a major way. And, now WEEZY is expressing that he wants to start pushing the boundaries of his craft. Hopefully he’s serious. So Weezy F. Baby over Little Richard. Plus, I was never a fan of Little Richard’s perm. I feel what he was doing back then in the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll and all, but now, nahh.
LP, CD or MP3?
The MP3 is liberating by nature. So the MP3. Only high quality ones though … 320kbps. The LP is cool, but for cultural reasons. CD’s are just annoying at this point.
If you could start one trend, what would it be?
I feel like I have. I was wearing Topsiders, colorful ones too, way before they got popular again, back in my early URBAN W.A.S.P.in’ days.
I would like to start a trend to seriously use and continually improve alternative, green and cheap energy to the masses.
If you could end one trend, what would it be?
I’m not easily annoyed by things, trends or ppl. Trends are trends because they comment on something profound or seemingly profound. Ppl don’t like trends because they become clichés, and “errbody got ‘em.” But clichés are clichés only because at some point they were profound or interesting or cool … to a lot of ppl.
But one trend I would definitely end is 360 artist deals. It’s unethical.
With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
I think I played enough of that in high school during those summer nights on Lake Michigan, but still, who’s not down for a game of good, old-fashioned spin the bottle. So I would say Janelle Monae is with whom I’d play.
Download “Sweet Confusion” MP3
